The Secret to making French Macarons!

Macarons were originated in France in the 1830s. It is a sweet confectionery that is made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder and food coloring. In between the macaron, it is normally filled with either buttercream or jam. The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, domed top, ruffled circumference, also called the “foot”, flat base, mildly moist and easily melted into mouths.

I’m totally in love with French macarons! So, I decided to try making them myself. And I remember it took me a total of three days to master how to do it right. I looked up various recipes online and tried it out over and over again. The recipe I tried and succeeded was from tartelette, she has many different recipes of desserts on her blog.

There are three main things to remember when you are making macarons; temperature, timing and you need old egg whites. (That’s the secret to it!) And of course you also need really good baking sheet because you don’t want your macarons to stick to it at the end.

When I say temperature, I mean during the time of baking, the temperature of the oven has to be set just right. If it’s too hot, it will just burn the macarons and it wouldn’t be moist on the inside. And if its not hot enough, it wont be able to rise. So, you need a good oven that you can change the temperature consistently so that your macaroons won’t get burnt.

Timing is also a really important factor. You need to know how long to beat the egg white for because if you beat them for too long, they will just turn into meringues instead of macarons. And if you under beat them, they won’t rise because the texture is just not right. Also, after beating the egg whites, you will need to pipe them on a baking tray and let them set for about an hour or two. This is to form the “foot” around it.

Lastly, you need old egg whites. When I say old I mean a day of two old and not when they start to stink. If you’re still worried about using old eggs, you can check out here where they tell you how to tell when an egg is too old to consume and that it is safe if it just a day or two old. The reason why we need to use old eggs is because it gives a better elastic result and also older eggs have thinner whites so the overall outcome is better when beating.

That’s the secret to making French macarons, so if you were to ever give it a try remember to joint down these things to do. Good luck!

Eat desserts while on a diet!

 Eating desserts can help you lose weight even while you are on a diet. How? There are just a few easy steps to follow and it will lead you to a successful diet with desserts in it! Desserts are usually the last course of the meal and it is usually contained with the most amounts of sugar and calories. And if your body consumes too much calories for it to burn off, those calories will just turn into fats.

Desserts can be healthy in many ways and it can also be a very valuable meal that can help you lose that weight. You just need to know the right amount of desserts to consume a day and consuming it with the right ingredients.

Knowing the right amount to consume a day is very important because once you go over the limit; the rest of the calories will just turn to fats. That will just ruin the whole point of the diet. For us girls, the maximum amount of calories a day is only 2000. So as long as the desserts we consume within that number, we could eat as much desserts as we like.

 

Next is having the right ingredient in it. One way to reduce the amount of calories in a dessert is to replace the ingredients which contains the most calories that is sugar and fats with natural ingredients like honey, maple or low fat dairy products. Another way is to add fruits in the desserts. Fruits not only taste good, they contain natural sweeteners as well. And what’s more, they only contain very little fats and some fruits like apples, bananas and oranges even burn fats and calories.

So why torture yourself with strict diets when you can just make some little adjustments to your desserts and have a healthy and enjoyable diet.

Some sites that have really good and healthy dessert recipes are betterrecipes , eatingwell and disneyfamily.

Desserts is stressed spelled backwards

Ever felt stressed due to examinations or upset because you are just having a really bad day? Well, desserts might be the key to relieve such tension on you. Mental stress is a normal reaction to upheaval, emotional upset or even simple too many demands of your time. And whenever you feel stressed up, you will crave for something sweet to have a temporary relief, even if it’s just for a short while. But why is this so?

Some studies have suggested that there is a scientifically reason to explain why we crave sweets during times of worry, anxiety and tension. In our body, there is a hormone called “cortisol” which is released in response to stress. And when cortisol is triggered, it causes an increase in appetite. At the same time, our blood level drops too which makes you in need of more sugar. So eating a snack brings a sense of calmness to the brain.

Another reason to why desserts are a way to relieve stress is because desserts trigger “endorphins” to be release. Endorphins are the natural hormones that block pain and create a sense of pleasure. Studies have proven that fat and sugars are two of the largest cause that triggers that hormone. And so, taking a huge mouthful of desserts will send an instant message to your brain for the release of endorphins, giving you moments of pleasure.

Also, according to Adam Thomas, eating desserts is a way of reflexology that helps people de-stress as well.

So next time when you’re all stressed up, try having a sweet treat like some cookies, cakes or even ice cream. I’m sure it will bring you some kind of sensation!

recipe much?

Having all these advanced media and the Internet, people are able to access to any sorts of information they are looking for. Sites like Google and Wikipedia gives people all they answers to every question they have. And having said that, there isn’t really a need for a proper cookbook anymore. Would you rather spend twenty to thirty bucks on a cookbook that will be left sitting there all dusty that you’ll only take a look at once in a while or just look up the Internet for free recipes anytime you feel like baking/cooking? I think the second choice sounds a little more reasonable. Also, when you use a cookbook while trying out a recipe, it tends to get all messy and dirty and you wouldn't want that.

On the Internet, you could also come across many “food bloggers”. These people blog/write about food for a living. On their site, they would post up a recipe for a dish they made and also the whole process of doing it. Most of these bloggers have really good food photography skills and as long as the picture looks good, it will definitely get people’s attention.

Other than the Internet, there are also food channels on television that have programs that teaches you step by step on how to cook a certain dish. And if you were to miss one the shows, you could just look up the food channel’s website and search for the recipe whether its sweet or salty they’ll have what you are looking for. Also, there is another reliable site; allrecipe.com where there would be recipes of all sorts post by any other people. Adding on to that, there would also be ratings and feedbacks on each recipe from those who have tried them out. This way, it would be easier for you to know which recipe would most likely work out.

There are recipes all over and what’s more? They’re all free! All you need is the Internet and you’ll be able to get any recipe you want. So why do some people still purchase cookbooks these days?

How different parts of the world enjoy their sweets

The word “dessert” is defined as the sweet and its usually served after the main course of a meal. It is also the final course of a meal. The word comes from the French language as dessert and it means "to clear the table" and "to serve."

The first desserts were candies, made from fruits or nuts rolled in honey. It was only until the Middle Ages, when sugar was created, that people began to enjoy more sweets but even then sugar was so expensive that it was only for the wealthy on special occasions.

In the United States dessert is likely to consist of pastry, cake, ice cream, pudding, or fresh or cooked fruit. Today, it seems like dessert would be a big part of a typical complete meal where there would be an appetizer, the main course and then the dessert. It would be a dish served in a restaurant and it would give a sweet taste to end their meal. Also, desserts are mostly consumed with dessert wine, which are sweet wines served with desserts. There are different flavored wines to go with different types of desserts because the taste compliments each other.

You could go to AvalonWine to check out various dessert recipes that goes well with wine.

                           

In Asia, particularly in the Chinese culture, the desserts would consist a wide variety of ingredients commonly used in East Asian cuisines such as powdered or whole glutinous rice, sweet bean pastes, and agar. Unlike the U.S. in the Chinese culture, it is not really necessary to have a sweet dish at the end of the meal but something sweet at the start of the meal. They are typically served at home when guests come to visit or during special occasions. It is like an appetizer to start up their appetite. Desserts in Asia are mostly consumed with Chinese tea as the tea cleanses the oil in the body and also it has a light taste that goes well with the sweet treats. You could check out recipes of Chinese desserts and tea from Chinesefooddiy.
 

Sweets are consumed and viewed as differently in different parts of the world, being made from different types of ingredients. But still, everyone enjoys them.